Madonna predicts Tidal wave

NEW YORK — Madonna, who co-owns Tidal with Jay Z, Beyonce and others, says it’s just the beginning for the streaming service that’s had some troubles since its launch in March.

“It’s just the beginning, so we’re working out a lot of kinks and hopefully we’re going to build something unique and amazing that’s going to attract a lot of people,” the 56-year-old singer said in a recent interview.

Tidal, which offers a basic subscription for US$10 (S$14) and a high-quality-audio one for US$20, hasn’t made a splash like its announcement did a few months ago, when Rihanna, Kanye West, Daft Punk, Nicki Minaj, Jack White and others stood onstage in solidarity along with the co-owners. Since then, Tidal has announced a family plan and discount for students. The company also lost its interim CEO last month.

“It’s important that people understand we didn’t create Tidal, we didn’t put this together, we didn’t all join forces because we’re broke and we want more money. The idea is we want to support other artistes and we want people to understand this is our heart, this is our work, and we want people to recognise that and we want other artistes to have a chance,” Madonna said.

“We live in a society now where everybody just expects everything to be for free, but you don’t get a house for free; you have to pay somebody to build it,” she added.

Other artist-owners of Tidal include Arcade Fire, Alicia Keys, Usher, Chris Martin, Calvin Harris, deadmau5, Jason Aldean and J. Cole. AP